Job Discussion Forums

[bobo_bt]

Hi, I started a job in Bangkok a few weeks ago and have purchased a couple of books to study and hopefully be able to speak some Thai. I was just wondering if anybody knew of any websites that could help me with learning to read Thai. I worked in Korea before and there was a very good website which helped me learn the characters within a few hours by using different games. I realise it will take a lot longer to learn the Thai symbols but hopefully there is a website that can make it a bit more enjoyable and easier!!

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

This should keep you busy for a while. Chok dee!



http://www.thai-language.com/ Thai-Language.com / audio
http://www.learningthai.com/index.html LearningThai / audio
http://lexitron.nectec.or.th/ Lexitron / English <--> Thai Dictionary
http://thai2english.com/ Thai2English / English <--> Thai Dictionary
http://www.thai-language.com/dict/ Thai-Language Online Dictionary
http://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/ Into Asia / beginner's tutorial
http://sunsite.au.ac.th/education/index.html read and write in Thai / audio
http://www.sriwittayapaknam.ac.th/thailanguage/ read & write in Thai / audio
http://thaiarc.tu.ac.th/thai/introth.htm ThaiARC Language Page / audio
http://ethaimusic.com/ eThaiMusic.com / learn with music / audio
http://www.ancientscripts.com/thai.html Ancient Scripts.com
http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/ Paknam Forum
http://www.thaiforlovers.com/ Thai For Lovers
http://www.abcthai.de/ ABC Thai

[bobo_bt]

Thanks, that should keep me busy!!

[bobo_bt]

Another thing, I wondered if anyone had taken classes to learn Thai. I am thinking about taking some private tuition and have a list of some language schools but obviously if anyone else has done this they may be able to recommend somewhere.

[bobo_bt]

How about learning the Thai alphabet. Has anyone mastered it on their own, if so how? I managed to do it in Korea using a website but I cant really find one here (also, the Korean alphabet is much simpler than Thai!!)

[roguegrafix]

Once you've got a hundred or so words, then you really should try to learn how to read--even if you only master a few vowels. That way you cut out all the translitereated "phrase" books and go straight from Thai to the correct sound. There was a brilliant book called "Fundamentals of the Thai Language" -- the 5th edition is best. It taught you everything but it's been out of print for a long time.

[skann]

Yeah, I agree with roguegrafix. Learn some vocabulary and stuff with tour books first, and then learn the characters so that you can know how to speak new words correctly. It's easy to teach yourself the characters; there are 44 consonants, and you can use the website
http://www.thai-language.com/
to hear how they sound and see how to write them. I also got a children's practice book to practice writing them over and over. I still have to learn the vowels, though, but I feel I'm on my way to getting rid of my romanized Thai dictionaries, each of which spells the same Thai word in a different way.